MV Neptuna

Neptuna on her side in Darwin Harbour
History
Germany
Name	MV Rio Panuco[1]
Namesake	Pánuco River, Mexico
Operator	Flensburger Dampfer Co.[1]
Port of registry	Flensburg[1]
Builder	Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel[1]
Yard number	459
Laid down	18 June 1924
Launched	2 October 1924
Identification	Code Letters LNSQ [1]
Fate	Sold 1931
Germany
Name	MV Neptun[1]
Operator	Norddeutscher Lloyd Linie[1]
Port of registry	Bremen[1]
Route	New Guinea – Hong Kong
Acquired	1931
Identification	Code Letters DNMI [1]
Fate	Sold 1935
Hong Kong
Name	MV Neptuna[1]
Operator	Burns, Philp & Co[1]
Port of registry	Hong Kong[1]
Acquired	1935
Identification	Code Letters VPGV [1] United Kingdom Official Number 159410[1]
Fate	Sunk 1942, broken up partially 1960
General characteristics
Type	Cargo ship
Tonnage	5,952 gross register tonnage[1]
Displacement	1,410 long tons (1,433 t)
Length	119.8 m (393 ft)[1]
Beam	15.84 m (52.0 ft)[1]
Draught	7.7 m (25 ft)[1]
Installed power	760 NHP[1]
Propulsion	12 cylinder Krupp diesel engine, screw[1]
Complement	124

MV Neptuna was a 5,952 ton cargo motor vessel. She was launched as MV Rio Panuco in 1924, renamed MV Neptun in 1931 and finally became MV Neptuna in 1935. She was sunk during the Japanese air raid on Darwin on 19 February 1942, during World War II.

Career

Rio Panuco was built and launched in 1924 in Kiel by Friedrich Krupp Germaniawerft, Kiel for H. Schuldt's Flensburger Dampfer Co. She traded between Germany and Central America until 1931 when the company went bankrupt in the Great Depression.

She was sold to Norddeutscher Lloyd Line (NDL) of Bremen, who renamed her Neptun. By 1934 was running her on the service between New Guinea and Hong Kong in competition with Burns, Philp & Co. Burns, Philp asked the Australian Government to stop NDL from operating out of New Guinea but the government declined.

Instead the Australian government offered to pay the interest on any money Burns, Philp borrowed to buy her. This was agreed so in 1935 Burns, Philp bought her and renamed her Neptuna. Burns, Philp is an Australian company but it registered Neptuna in Hong Kong. She operated on the Australia, New Guinea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Saigon service. Saigon in French Indochina (now Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam) was then the main source of supply of rice to New Guinea.

Sinking

In February 1942 Neptuna was off Stokes Hill Wharf, Darwin, Australia unloading a cargo of depth charges, TNT, and other armaments.^[2] MV Neptuna was sunk on 19 February 1942 during the 9:58 bombing raid in which bombs exploded in Neptuna's saloon and engine room. Forty-five men died on board including 9 wharf labourers and 36 crew members.^[3] Many others were seriously injured and the ship was set on fire. As the crew prepared to abandon her, 100 depth charges exploded,^[4] showering the harbour with debris and sending flames and smoke 100 metres into the air.

Part of the wreck was salvaged by the Fujita salvage operation in 1960. The remainder still lies in Darwin Harbour at 12°28′18″S 130°50′57″E / 12.47167°S 130.84917°E / -12.47167; 130.84917.

References

Boniface, George W. "The Bombing of the MV Neptuna by Japanese in Darwin 1942" in Smith, Alan Carnegie. Outback Corridor. Plympton, S. Aust. : A.C. Smith, 2002. p. 205-213

Buckley, K. and Klugman, K. The Australian presence in the Pacific : Burns Philp, 1914–1946. Sydney : George Allen & Unwin, 1983.

McCarthy, Sophie. World War II shipwrecks and the first Japanese air raid on Darwin, 19 February 1942. Darwin : Northern Territory Museum of Arts & Sciences, 1992.

Smith, Neil C. With the red duster : Gardenvale, Vic. : Mostly Unsung Military History Research and Publications, c 2006.

Steinberg, David Raising the war: Japanese salvage divers and allied shipwrecks in post-war Darwin Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, v.33, 2009: 11–18

External links

• Australia's Merchant Navy
• Photo of undamaged ship
• The Ships List – Norddeutscher Lloyd
• – Darwin, 19 February 1942 / by Brendan de Burca
• – Personal recollections of the bombing of Darwin – 1942 / written in 1987 by George W. Boniface.